A type of xylophone, the marimba is a percussion instrument. The percussionist strikes a row (or two rows) of wooden blocks – laid out like a keyboard – beneath which are attached a series of echo chambers that resonate the sound. The compass of the instrument varies, but generally covers three or four chromatic octaves from the C below ...
Composers of the early twentieth century sought out further percussion instruments to add to their sound palette. Berg’s Three Pieces for Orchestra (1913) requires a xylorimba: a composite instrument, with a top end sounding like a xylophone, the bass end like a marimba. Walton’s Façade (1926) requires wood blocks: stemming from Africa, these are a series of resonant ...
world music instruments, live electronics and collaboration with jazz and rock musicians, has remained pretty much the same, although a few percussion instruments, such as the marimba, tuned gongs and rota-toms, are not as unusual as they once were. New non-electronic instrumental in-ventions have had a certain amount of cult success. Composers such as Harry ...
, transforming notes originally played on a harp into enormous percussion sounds like bongos, bass drums, marimbas and vibraphones. Styles & Forms | Contemporary | Classical Instruments | Marimba | Contemporary | Classical ...
A musical ensemble is a group of two or more musicians who have come together to play music. In theory, an ensemble could contain any number of instruments in any combination, but in practice, certain combinations just don’t work very well, either for musical reasons or because of the sheer practicality of getting particular instruments and players ...
Keyboard percussion instruments include the western xylophone, marimba, vibraphone and glockenspiel, the log xylophones and marimbas of Africa and Central America, and the barred instruments played in the Indonesian gamelan. The orchestral xylophone, marimba and glockenspiel have thin wooden or metal rectangular bars laid out like a chromatic piano keyboard. The back row of bars – ...
, the piano is technically a member of the percussion family. Indeed, in Grainger’s The Warriors (1916) the pianist has to lean inside and strike the strings directly with marimba mallets (the piece boasts three grand pianos and one upright, part of an enormous percussion department). Similarly, in solo piano repertory, Cowell’s Aeolian Harp (1923) requires the ...
HPD-15 present the player with a variety of impressive built-in sounds and surfaces responsive to the established, traditional techniques of hand-drumming. Mallet Instruments Larger instruments like the xylophone, marimba or vibraphone are emulated by the malletKAT MIDI control surface. Introduction | Electric & Electronic Instruments Instruments | Drum Machine | Electric & Electronic ...
own right. He used natural materials in boos I and II, large bamboo marimbas with six ranks of tuned bamboo tubes, and found objects such as the mazda marimba, which is 24 tuned light bulbs, and Whang Guns, which are sheets of sprung steel controlled by pedals. Partch composed extensively for his own instruments, often ...
The vibraphone is a kind of electronic steel marimba, initially produced in the US in 1916. The player uses rubber-topped beaters to strike two rows of metal bars. The sound is not amplified electronically: it is amplified by the action of the resonators (like the marimba) which enhance the sound. Each resonator has a fan, and all are joined ...
as it is sometimes known), is a percussion instrument that uses an electro-mechanical system to create its distinctive sound. Construction The vibraphone is similar in appearance to a xylophone or marimba, in that it consists of a set of bars arranged over resonating vertical tubes. However, unlike the other, wooden instruments, the vibraphone’s bars are made of ...
drums, shakers, scrapers, bells, and log xylophones travelled to the New World with African slaves and are commonly used in Latin-American music. The orchestral xylophone and marimba also descend from the traditional African instrument. Bells and gongs originated in the Far East and India, and travelled into Western Europe with returning Christian missionaries. Western military drums ...
(Singer-songwriter, b. 1949) Born in Pomona, California, Waits has built an extremely well-regarded career as a gravel-voiced documentarian of American low-life. The Eagles covered ‘Ol ’55’ from his jazzy debut Closing Time (1973). On Blue Valentine (1979) and the US Top 100 Heartattack And Vine (1980) he introduced a rockier sound. Then came his move into the trailblazing ...
of ‘pure’, untempered intervals, along with instruments that could play them – by the late 1940s these included such colourfully named objects as Cloud Chamber Bowls and the Mazda marimba, the latter made entirely of light-bulbs. The early twentieth century also saw the development of the first electronic instruments. Before the famous Hammond organ in 1929 came Thaddeus Cahill’s ...
(Vocal/instrumental duo, 1997–2011) Divorcées Jack (vocals, guitar) and Meg White (percussion) formed The White Stripes with the mission statement of keeping a childlike simplicity in their music and imagery. Dressing only in red, white and black and playing a thrilling version of blues and rock (owing as much to Led Zeppelin as pioneers like Son House and Leadbelly), ...
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